I, NOMI Plays Limited Vegas Run Before Off-Broadway Run

In any discussion of the all-time greatest female movie characters, there are certain names that are always guaranteed to come up: Dorothy Gale, Scarlett O'Hara, Holly Golightly...and Nomi Malone. And if you don't think she belongs on that list, let's just hope she doesn't find out-this one's got a temper.

As played by Elizabeth Berkley in Paul Verhoeven's immortal 1995 cult classic Showgirls, Nomi is an ambitious young woman of indeterminate origin who hitches a ride to Las Vegas with a single dream: to dance. And dance she does, first as a topless dancer at garish strip club The Cheetah, and then as a (still topless) dancer in the Stardust's glitzy hotel show, Goddess.

After bearing witness to Nomi's meteoric rise and abrupt departure at the height of her fame, we're left with many questions: who the hell was that woman? Where's her family? What "different places" did she come from? What exactly was her history with doggie chow? And what manner of destruction will she inflict upon her next location after fleeing Vegas?

You could ask Elizabeth Berkley these questions, but what does she know? She only played Nomi once! The real answers lie with the foremost theatrical interpreter of Nomi Malone and Berkley's other iconic role, Saved by the Bell's Jessie Spano: acclaimed actress/singer/comedienne April Kidwell.

A Las Vegas native and Theatre & Dance alum of both the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts and UNLV, Kidwell has first-hand experience as a Vegas Strip showgirl-she cut her teeth playing Cleopatra at Caesar's Palace! After originating the role of Nomi in Bob and Tobly McSmith's Off Broadway musical Showgirls! The Musical! and reprising it for the show's west coast premiere run in San Francisco, Kidwell has played Nomi soooooo many times and knows every last thing there is to know about her.

Kidwell's such an expert that she's prominently featured in director Jeffrey McHale's forthcoming You Don't Nomi, the first major Showgirls documentary, which had its red-carpet world premiere at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival this spring. And now, she's ready to share that all that Nomi knowledge with the rest of us.

Written, produced by, and starring Kidwell, I, NOMI is a raunchy, raucously funny one-woman imagining of the adolescence and life beyond Vegas of our favorite feral heroine. Featuring outrageous original songs and more than a few bombshells, this is a ferocious and empowering night of musical comedy for the #MeToo movement. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll paint your lips on way too big while having epileptic-org*sms. And when all is said and done, you'll walk away saying, "Nomi? No. ME."

The show begins at 8 p.m. June 27-30 and July 10-13; the July 10 performance starts at midnight and the July 14 performance starts at 5 p.m. Tickets are $30 and available now at aprilkidwell.com.

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